


The Vocabulary

by anneapocalypse



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types
Genre: Gender Identity, Other, Trans Female Character, Trans Miranda Lawson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-12
Updated: 2014-02-12
Packaged: 2018-11-20 00:16:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11324703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anneapocalypse/pseuds/anneapocalypse
Summary: Written for a prompt from Zoomalark on tumblr, for Miranda and Liara talking about gender.Based on my headcanon that the ancient asari had a complex multigender culture that phased out due to Prothean Intervention, and Zoomie's headcanon that Miranda is transgender.





	The Vocabulary

**Author's Note:**

> This is a _very_ old ficlet I dug out of my blog archives and realized I'd never posted here, so I'm putting it here for archival purposes and backdating accordingly.

“You’re quiet,” Miranda observes, dunking her teabag up and down in the mug, an idle motion, as she knows it makes the tea brew no faster, but it keeps her restless hands busy. She moves from the kitchenette to the table, taking a seat. Liara’s eyes are vaguely trained on the window which is not, of course, a window, just a viewscreen projecting the expanse of starry space beyond. If she stares at them long enough, letting her eyes slide in and out of focus, Miranda can make herself a little lightheaded with the vision. Liara looks as though her mind is out there, too.

She blinks at Miranda’s words, nods slowly as her partner slides into a seat beside her. “Yes. I was just… thinking.”

Miranda brings the mug to her lips. “Care to share?”

Liara’s cheeks flush a deeper blue. “It sounds silly, I’m afraid. Oh—all right,” she acquiesces when Miranda tilts her head with a gently teasing smile. “I was trying to figure out gender again. You know—what mine would be.”

“Ah.” Miranda wraps her fingers around the mug, very warm against her skin. “Have you been talking to Javik again?”

“Not in a few days.” Liara’s fingertips play on her own hot mug, tracing the rim idly. “But I am still thinking about what he said.”

“About the ancients, you mean.”

“Yes.” Liara’s brow furrows. “It is… something that was always for  _other_ species. Turians, humans… so much of your society seems ruled by these identities?”

Miranda gives a wry laugh. “You can say that again.”

Liara flushes again. “I did not intend that to sound so negative. I—I apologize.”

"No offense taken,” Miranda reassures her, amused. “It isn’t untrue.” She returns her tea again, leaving Liara in a pensive silence, until she breaks it.

“I’ve just been thinking about… what I would be? Or what I _am_? I am uncertain how to—I do not know how I should even—”

"You don’t have the language for it,” Miranda offers.

“No,” Liara says, shoulders relaxing a little. “I do not.” She’s quiet for another moment, then continues. “Javik said I—I presume to know so much about  _his_ people, and yet know so little of my own. Of myself.”

Miranda nods thoughtfully.

"I was offended,” Liara confesses. “But I fear he was right.”

Forgoing the obvious  _Of course_ , Miranda simply places a hand on Liara’s. “Sometimes it takes time to know yourself. And even more time to know what to do with what you know.”

“Was it like that for you?” Liara asks.

Miranda cocks an eyebrow. “Gender-wise, you mean?”

“Yes.”

“Well—no, not really. I knew quite early,” Miranda admits. She leans back in her chair. “But I had the vocabulary. Hmm—I should put you in touch with an old friend. It’s a shame you never got to meet the Justicar. Something tells me she might know a few things about your ancients. And with, shall we say, a more sympathetic perspective than Javik’s.”

Liara curls her fingers around Miranda’s and squeezes. “I would like that.”


End file.
